Jeremy Clarkson sparked controversy by suggesting that long queues at airport control could be solved by 'a bit of racism'.

The BBC Top Gear presenter said that delays were caused because immigration officials could no longer use their discretion to wave certain passengers through.

'Nobody is waved through any more. Immigration officials are not allowed to use their discretion,' he said.

'Common sense has been erased from the system. And the result is plain for all to see. There's a two-hour wait. And come the Olympics they're saying that time frame will double.

'Net result: Immigration officials have to assume that the nice family of four coming back from their holiday in Sardinia is going to cheat the social out of millions then blow up during the 100 metres final.'

Clarkson then went on to say there is a possible solution to the problem.

'Nobody likes a racist. Nobody likes prejudice. It has no place at work, at play or on the terraces of a football stadium. It has no place at school, or in government.

But some said they agreed with his views. A woman known only as Alice said: 'Jeremy clarkson (sic) has summed up what will go wrong this summer. GO JEREMY! He is brilliant.'

Clarkson used his weekly column in The Sun to highlight the problem of long waits for those coming through border control at Heathrow airport.

He said that since security checks were tightened by Home Secretary Theresa May, officials have been prevented from only targeting those deemed 'high risk'.

Clarkson, who is no stranger to
controversy and has become known for his provocative comments, hit the
headlines in December after he suggested that striking public sector
workers should be shot in front of their families.

The gaffe came when he appeared on the BBC's The One Show during Britain's biggest public sector strike for the past 30 years.

For years border officials feebly admitted thousands of people with tenuous claims to be refugees

Clarkson has said that immigration officials are not allowed to use common sense at airports

The BBC was also forced to apologise about an item on BBC2's Top Gear which led to the Mexican ambassador complaining about the 'outrageous, vulgar and inexcusable insults' made about Mexicans by Clarkson and his co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond.

In February 2009 Clarkson famously insulted then-prime minister Gordon Brown by calling him a 'one-eyed Scottish idiot' - a reference to the fact he is blind in one eye.

The previous year the BBC also received nearly 2,000 complaints when Clarkson joked about lorry drivers murdering prostitutes.

Controversial: Jeremy Clarkson calls form striking public sector workers to be shot on BBC 1's The One Show